A NURSE who tried to justify using 'excessive force' before angrily telling an dementia patient 'if you carry on you’ll be going in the bath at 4am and you’ll be screaming, not singing' has been struck off by the nursing watchdog.

Angela Verity Bickerstaff even tried to blame others for her actions on the night shift of December 1 and December 2, 2014 on the dementia nursing unit at BUPA-run Dove Court Nursing Home in Burnley, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was told .

During the shift at the Shuttleworth Street home, she was found to have put a resident into bed on ‘one or more occasions’ using ‘excessive force’ between 2.15am and 2.30am.

The hearing was also told she then removed the resident from her bedroom by pulling her arm before losing her temper and saying: 'Shut up lady, people are trying to sleep'.

The NMC panel sitting in London were also told Bickerstaff said: “If you carry on you’ll be going in the bath at 4am and you’ll be screaming, not singing.”

Bickerstaff was also found to have ‘failed to wash another resident at around 2am following an episode of incontinence, while at about 10.30 pm, she was found to have pushed another with ‘force’ when it was not clinically justified.

All three charges were ‘proved’ by the NMC.

Previously, Bickerstaff, a nurse whose career spanned more than 30 years, was suspended from the profession for six months in October last year. Then in March this year, the suspension order was reviewed and extended by another six months.

However, following a recent hearing the NMC has decided to increase this to a striking-off order after they said she had ‘not engaged with them at all’ in the past year and therefore was ‘not in a position to assess her insight and whether she had remedied her behaviour'.

As well as this, the panel said she had ‘not shown any insight or remorse with regards to her actions and had refused to accept responsibility and sought to 'off-load' blame on others.

The NMC said: “The panel concluded that Mrs Bickerstaff had acted in a way that had put those in her care at unwarranted risk of harm and had brought the profession into disrepute and had breached fundamental tenets of the profession.

“The panel found that Bickerstaff had shown no insight into the charges against her and had sought to deflect concerns by passing the blame on to others. She had attempted to defend her actions rather than admit them.

“Bickerstaff had not provided any character references that could give the panel an insight of what her fellow professionals considered of her general conduct and character since these incidents.

“ Bickerstaff had failed to provide the standards of care the public would expect vulnerable residents to receive.

“The panel determined that it was necessary to take action to prevent Bickerstaff from practising in the future and concluded that the only sanction that would adequately protect the public and serve the public interest was a striking off order.

“This decision will be confirmed to Ms Bickerstaff in writing.”

Although the panel said there was no evidence of any previous incident of misconduct during Bickerstaff’s career, and that the incidents had occurred upon a single night shift at the home.

The panel also found no evidence there had been actual physical harm to the residents in question, although the panel had found that there had been a ‘risk of harm’.

The striking-off order will come into effect on November 17 this year.

Angela Zuraw, regional director for Bupa Care Services, said: “We do not tolerate this type of behaviour in any of our homes. Angela Bickerstaff has not worked for us since 2014.”